Renacci addresses health care website concerns

Congressman Jim Renacci says he wants the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to explain what it's doing about reported errors in the transmission of information on health plan enrollees from Healthcare.gov to insurers.

The office of U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, said this week that the congressman sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebilius on Tuesday requesting information about whether insurers are getting accurate information about people signing up for health plans through Healthcare.gov and state health exchanges sites.

Renacci expressed concern about reports that insurers are getting inaccurate information from the sites, which have experienced significant technical problems.

"When this information is incorrect, subscribers may be signed up for the wrong plan, family members may not be covered and identities may not be verifiable," the letter said. "These errors are unacceptable and are the consequences of this Administration's irresponsible decision to roll out a botched website."

The letter said the administration has not disclosed whether the bugs that led to those errors have been fixed.

He asked Sebilius to provide information of the extent of the problem and whether her department would hold those signing up for health plans and insurers harmless if the errors affected coverage.

The letter is also signed by nine other congressmen.

Renacci's spokeswoman Megan Taylor said Renacci's office has not yet heard any complaints from constituents about errors, but many of them would not find out the impact of such problems until after their coverage is supposed to start on Jan. 1.

"Personally, (Congressman Renacci) was very concerned about this because down the road, it could be a huge disaster if people think they're enrolled in plans and show up at the doctor's office and they're actually not," she said.

Renacci is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which has oversight over the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which is responsible for implementing provisions of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.

Separately, Renacci issued a statement Tuesday saying that negotiations on a budget plan between House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. and Senate Budge Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash. have not been transparent.

He said if the House holds a vote on the budget deal reached between the two this week as expected "my colleagues and I will not have the opportunity to fully consider the provisions within the agreement prior to voting for it, making it just another last minute deal that is rammed through Congress without regard for its potential consequences. It is undeniable that our budget process is broken, and this must change."